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Saturday, 29 January 2011

Saints of Britain – St Werburgh of ChesterWerburga or Werburgh, as she is more commonly known in modern English, wasborn at Stone sometime early in the seventh century which makes her a very localsaint indeed. Her father was Wulfhere king of Mercia whilst her motherwas Ermenilda who was herself a daughter of Ercombert, king of Kent and Sexburga who was herself the daughter of a king of East Anglia.Not a great deal is actually known about Werburga as such. There are no real contemporary records of her activities and the earliest account of her life was written by a Flemish monk named Goscelin towards the end of the 10th century, whoseaccount was used by laterwriters such as William ofMalmesbury.The traditional tale is that despite her beauty and her obvious attractions as a verywell connected royal princess, she rejected all suitors andresolved to dedicate her life to God. Therefore, with her father's consent, she tookholy orders and entered the Abbey of Ely, which lay within the borders of thekingdom of East Anglia, and which had been founded by her greataunt Etheldreda and who was the current abbess at the time.In due course her uncle Aethelred became ruler of Mercia and invited her to returnhome and assume control of all the convents within the kingdom. Werburga wastherefore to dedicate the rest of her life to the business of reforming theexisting Mercian establishments and founding new religious houses including thoseat Trentham, Hanbury and Weedon.After a life of service to the religious administration of Mercia, Werburga died on the3rd February in either 699 or 700. She had apparently already decided on Hanbury asher final resting but happened to be at Trentham when she died. The nunsat Trentham refused to give up the body and even instituted security arrangementsto prevent its removal. Despite this an expedition from Hanbury succeeded inrecovering her remains. (It is said that all the bolts and bars sprang open oncetouched and that all the guards were overpoweredby sleep and remained oblivious to the theft.)The Miracle of the GeeseThe most noted miracle attributed to Werburgarelates to an incident at a farm in Weedon closeto Chester which was being plagued by flock of wildgeese, who were feasting on the farm's cornfieldsmuch to the detriment of its overall productivity.Werburga dealt with the problem by ordering thegeese to be shut up for the night (the geese meeklyobeyed her command); the next day she scoldedthem for ravaging the fields and told them to goaway.The geese however refused to leave, as theprevious night,one of their number had been caught, killed andeaten by the farm's steward. Werburga orderedthe steward to bring forth the bird's remains, atwhich point Weburga restored the bird to life. Theflock, including the now reconstituted goose, thendeparted and in gratitude never returned again.The tale explains why Werburga is often depictedin iconography with a goose somewhere nearby.By the year 708 her brother Coenred hadsucceeded Aethelred as king of Mercia anddecided to move her body to a more conspicuousplace within the church at Hanbury.Her body was found to be miraculously intactdespite the passage of some eight or nine yearssince her death, which was naturally considered to be a sign of divine favour and hertomb therefore became an object of veneration and a centre forpilgrimage. Coenred himself is said to have to have been so effected by this miraclethat he decided to abdicate and enter holy orders himself.The shrine remained at Hanbury for the next 160 years or so but due to the threatfrom Viking raiders it was decided, in the year 875, to relocate the shrine to Chester.Troparion (Tone 4)Thine illustrious life filled the angels with aweand put the demons to flight in terror,while it adorneth the congregations of the faithful with the splendour of grace,O venerable mother Werburga!As in thy charity thou didst extend thy love to all thy fellow creatures,intercede with God in our behalf, that our souls may be saved!